Preview: Delhi v Mumbai, Match 28

Mumbai have been blowing hot and cold so far in this edition of Indian T20 League 2013 and they will be hoping to wipe out the inconsistency when they take on the struggling Delhi outfit at the Feroz Shah Kotla. The last time these two sides faced, Mumbai ended up winning by a comfortable margin and they will be hoping for a similar result in the return leg.

Delhi:

In-form player: It is hard to point out an in-form player in a team that has been woefully out of touch and is struggling to find its feet after six straight losses. Looking into their recent losses - against Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai - there was one batsman who did impress despite the team's overall poor showing. Wicket-keeper batsman Kedhar Jadhav has shown that he is a class player who is capable of consistent performances with the bat. With scores of 30*, 29* and 31 in his last three outings, Jadhav is an example for the rest of the batters in the line-up.

Hits: Although the bowling has been inconsistent much like the batting, the bowlers have done a lot better for Delhi in some of their recent games, almost taking their side past the line. Morne Morkel and Shahbaz Nadeem had Hyderabad by the scruff before the Sun-Network owned team emerged victorious with 4 deliveries to spare in a low-scoring encounter. Against Bangalore, Delhi managed to force their opponents into the Super Over with Umesh Yadav and Nadeem doing a good job. Despite not being able to contain the Chennai batsmen in their previous game, Delhi will be happy with the bowlers and hope for them to deliver.

Misses: Delhi have fallen flat in terms of their batting performance with celebrated names like Virender Sehwag, David Warner and captain Mahela Jayawardene have failed miserably upfront while Manprit Juneja and Irfan Pathan too have been disappointing with the bat. Even on a batting friendly wicket in Bangalore, Delhi could not post more than 152 while they were pathetic against Hyderabad and Chennai, with scores of 114/8 and 83 all-out respectively. Unless the batsmen put their heads down and come up with disciplined shows, Delhi's hopes of ending their losing streak seem bleak.

Team's performance so far: With six defeats from six games, Delhi are languishing at the bottom of the points table.

In-form player: Every time he has walked out to bat this season, Dinesh Karthik has scored 30 or more and has been the most prolific scorer for Mumbai in 2013 with a couple of half-centuries under his belt as well. The presence of big names in the line-up has not unnerved the wicket-keeper batsman, who will be keen to add to his string of good scores.

Hits: Apart from Karthik, Mumbai will also be happy with the form of Rohit Sharma, who made his presence felt with back to back half-centuries against Delhi and Pune before his failure in the game against Rajasthan. Sharma will be hoping to be amongst the runs again, and having scored an unbeaten 74 the last time he played against this team, Sharma will be confident of coming up with another big score. In the bowling department, Mumbai have been served well by Mitchell Johnson, who has been their top wicket taker this season. However, the bowler has also shown a tendency to leak runs and Mumbai will be hoping he comes up with a tight spell against Delhi. Harbhajan too has done a decent job with the ball and Mumbai will be hoping he continues in the same vein.

Misses: While they are two of the biggest names in International cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting are yet to take the event by storm. While they have been part of a couple of half-century stands, the pair have not done too much otherwise, with a combined tally of 121 runs from five games. Sachin's highest so far is a score of 44 while the former Australian captain has not scored more than 28 runs in an innings.

Team's performance so far:With three wins from five matches, Mumbai are currently placed fifth on the points table with 6 points.

Quotes:

If we don't believe that we can qualify, then we should not be playing in the first place. I still believe we can get to six points and then suddenly force ourselves somewhere in the middle of the table: Mahela Jayawardene

We are five games into the tournament; Sachin and I need to play better. If we want to continue winning games and if we want to be the team at the end of it which holds the trophy up, then we need everyone in the team to perform more often than not: Ricky Ponting